Institutional repositories—digital collections that capture and preserve the intellectual output of university communities—respond to two strategic issues facing academic institutions:

1) they provide a central component in reforming scholarly communication by stimulating innovation in a disaggregated publishing structure; and

2) they serve as tangible indicators of an institution’s quality, thus increasing its visibility, prestige, and
public value.

Raym Crow. "The Case for Institutional Repositories: A SPARC Position Paper" ARL Bimonthly Report 223 (2002).